Artificial flavors and things you need to know

What are the most basic conditions for survival? Foods? Sleep? Country? House? Shelter? Next season of the movie "Kingship Game"? Of course, food, along with sleeping and shelter, are important things that cannot be denied. However, one thing is equally important, it is the taste & taste of food. People tend to use these two concepts instead of each other, but they are actually two separate concepts (not complete).

The taste is described by 5 basic words you learned at the elementary level, including sweet, sour, bitter, salty and umami (sweet taste - borrowed from Japanese umami). Meanwhile, taste is a more complex concept. It is a blend of flavor, smell, texture and even the temperature of a certain dish. To completely separate these two concepts is not simple, and this article does not go into distinguishing them. The article only focuses on one of their many common points: to be created by human hands.

Scientists use dyes to make food more appealing and increase flavor.

According to Science ABC, if you drink a cup of strawberry juice in the last century, it may be the water made from real strawberries. But now, if you look at the ingredients listed in the fruit beverage label, you'll notice that in most drinks there will be no fruit ingredients, but that they are made from very well-known substances. strange. During the processing of these fruit juices, producers added the flavors created in the laboratory to a unique flavor - saccharine sugar.

Of course, just simulating the flavor of fruit is not enough. Scientists also use dyes to make food more appealing and chemicals that increase pleasant aromas. And this has a positive effect, meeting our expectations: the taste of artificial fruit juice is very good, even before it is put into consumption. So, how did "flavor experts" create those flavors and why do you need to do that?

How is artificial flavor created?

If you look closely at the ingredients printed on the labels of foods, you will know that the product has "natural flavors" or "artificial flavors" , or both. Although the composition may be different - we will make it clear later - but their taste is no different. The function of both types of flavors is to reconstruct the true taste of food by deceiving the human brain that they are enjoying the true taste of that fruit.

With the brain, flavors are simply the result of mixing certain chemicals.

The human brain is actually easily fooled. A normal glass of water can be considered to be made from a real fruit if it is formulated with precise chemicals. And with the brain, flavors are simply the result of mixing certain chemicals, it doesn't matter if they're really good flavors created in the lab.

Chemicals do not even need to chew; Because 80% of the flavor is affected by the smell, most flavors simply simulate the scent of a certain fruit. The variety of odors is produced by acid reactions that contain oxygen linked to a substance that contains a suspended oxygen or hydrogen molecule. These reactions can be "exploited" to create a multitude of combinations, often called esters , to create the scent of a certain fruit by simulating the same scent. In fact, esters are not necessary. Instead of using esters, some taste experts prefer to use smaller molecules, because they are volatile and produce more odor. And therefore, the human nose will also feel more and more distinctly.

There are more than 2000 different chemicals that can be combined to create more than 500 tasteful and varied flavors.

Butyl butyrate - a combination of butyl acid and butyric acid - will create the aroma of pineapple, while the combination of cinnamic acid and methyl alcohol (methyl cinnamate) gives us the taste of the strawberry. Similarly, there are more than 2000 different chemicals that can be combined to create more than 500 tasteful and diverse flavors. Each of these combinations took a considerable amount of time for chemists and chefs in laboratory tests. And this combination is so ingenious and perfect that one cannot tell what is the natural flavor and what the artificial flavor is.

The difference between "natural flavors" and "artificial flavors" on the sticker

Between these two flavors, the "natural" flavor is called "natural" because they are made from natural sources. However, although labeled "natural" is monumental, these flavors are not entirely natural. They will be cleverly combined with some other chemicals to create the desired flavor, smell and color. And their origins are not always extracted from the fruits themselves. For example, the natural flavor of vanilla can be made from cow dung. Still very delicious!

The origin of artificial flavors is not always extracted from the fruits themselves.(Image source: Pixabay).

The second type is labeled "artificial". And like its name, this type is completely created by human hands and in the laboratory. The origin to create artificial flavors is often inedible, such as oil. Octyl acetate - a chemical that plays a major role in the flavor of oranges - can be synthesized in the laboratory and simply added to the gum to produce orange-flavored gum. Also very delicious!

What do we create artificial flavors for?

After being processed, food will lose a significant portion of its natural flavor. Moreover, when leaving food for a certain period of time, the remaining flavor also disappears or is no longer as it was at the beginning. And this is the time when the flavors are added to enhance their features: help restore the taste of food by adding outside flavor.

Artificial flavors are as effective as real ones, but much cheaper.

Fake or real? In fact, do we need to care about that?

In fact, natural flavors require complex impact factors, such as the need to be grown in season or have to take them in the trunk or leaves of rare plants, grow in remote, uneven areas. , etc. Meanwhile, artificial flavors overcome these difficulties. It does not require rigorous farming conditions, nor does it require livestock feed or transport natural chemicals. Artificial flavors can be created in small laboratories, and then distributed to customers. And the most important thing: artificially synthesized flavors have exactly the same taste, even people can hardly distinguish it.

The reason for the favored artificial taste is the same as the reason for popular fake watches: They are as effective as real ones, but much cheaper. However, the economic factor is not entirely the cause of the preference for natural flavors, but also food safety issues. Due to the artificial flavors created in the laboratory, where everything is clean and rigorously tested for potential risks to ensure the safety of users' health. For this reason, the artificial flavors are clearly safer than the natural flavors (so long can be broken).